Crossing the line
Blurred boundaries and sexual violence in coach-athlete relationships
Datos Bibliográficos
| ID | 21758206 |
|---|---|
| Autores | Andrea Sáenz-Olmedo (0000-0001-6962-6333, University of the Basque Country, autor de correspondencia), Aitor Iturricastillo (0000-0001-7004-5341, University of the Basque Country), Oidui Usabiaga Arruabarrena (0000-0003-1935-8961, University of the Basque Country) |
| Año | 2026 |
| Páginas | 1-18 |
| Fecha de publicación | 2026-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Sí |
| Open Access | Sí |
| Tipo | ARTICLE |
| Revista | European Journal for Sport and Society (JOURNAL) |
| Identificadores de la revista | ISSN: 1613-8171 • E-ISSN: 2380-5919 |
| Editorial | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/16138171.2026.2694224 |
| OpenAlex | W7166856977 |
| Idioma | EN |
| Referencias citadas | 34 |
Recent abuse scandals have intensified attention on sexual violence in youth sport, yet limited research has examined how athletes interpret boundary-crossing behaviours embedded within everyday coach–athlete relationships. This study explored how Spanish school-aged team-sport athletes perceived behaviours that may constitute sexual violence and how survivors retrospectively made sense of these experiences. A mixed-methods design was employed. First, 292 university student-athletes completed an online questionnaire assessing perceptions and experiences of 24 coach behaviours, ranging from routine interactions to explicit sexual propositions. Second, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with six survivors who experienced sexual violence in organised team sport before the age of 18. Quantitative findings showed that participants clearly identified overtly sexualised behaviours, such as proposing sexual relations in exchange for privileges, as sexual violence, while frequently occurring day-to-day behaviours were widely reported but rarely perceived as problematic. Qualitative findings revealed that many of these normalised practices formed part of grooming processes in which apparently caring, friendly, or performance-related actions progressively escalated into invasive and abusive conduct. By integrating athletes’ perceptions with survivors’ narratives, the study illuminates the grey zone of sexual violence in sport, highlighting how power relations and cultural norms render certain behaviours invisible in survey data yet recognisable as abusive within lived experiences
Athletes · Perception · Poison control · Qualitative research · Sexual abuse · Sexual violence · Suicide prevention · Human Factors and Ergonomics · Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies · Sport Psychology and Performance · Sports, Gender, and Society
Narrative inquiry in sport and exercise psychology
Interpersonal violence against children in sport in the Netherlands and Belgium
The qualitative content analysis process
Achieving Integration in Mixed Methods Designs—Principles and Practices
Assessing the Reliability of the Sexual Violence Questionnaire in Sport among Spanish-Speaking Athletes
Mixed Methods in Emerging Academic Subdisciplines
Girl power gone wrong”
Sexual abuse and the grooming process in sport
Sexual Harassment Reconsidered
Reports of child protection and safeguarding concerns in sport and leisure settings
Using thematic analysis in psychology
Female student athletes’ perceptions of acceptability and the occurrence of sexual-related behaviour by their coaches in India
Reporting abuse in sport
Sport Administrators' Perspectives on Advancing Safe Sport
Lifetime Prevalence of Verbal, Physical, and Sexual Abuses in Young Elite Athletics Athletes
Sexual Harassment in Sport
The Forbidden Zone
| Velocidad de citación | historical |
|---|---|
| Altamente citado | No |